Sydney Penny will be the special guest on the talk show on STARDISH RADIO at www.blogtalkradio.com/stardish on May 22nd, 2008, 10:00 p.m. EST and she will answer the questions of the fans that will call at 347-945-5423

(news posted by the hostess of the talk show in the Sydney Penny yahoogroup)

Prior to being let go from All My Children, actress Sydney Penny's workload had been scaled back. However, the 36-year-old didn't mind that much because it meant she got to spend time with her son Chasen August, 11 months.

It's been really great to spend this time together, because every single week, there's something new. I'm glad not to have missed that.

While at work Sydney quickly became known as Chasen's mom and learned that everyone wanted to see him more than her.

As a matter of fact, if I walk into work and go into the makeup room without him in his stroller with me, they pretty much say, 'Okay this time, but don't come back without him!' I realize I better stick pretty close to the title of 'Chasen's mom,' or nobody will want anything to do with me!

In her youth, she had unrequited love affairs with a priest and a gunfighter before entering a convent. Later, she would be disfigured by a tornado and pushed over a waterfall before being shot at a wedding.

Recently, she was suspected of murder and struggled to keep her farm in hard times. Now she's offering advice to a sister torn between loving men.

Through it all, the actress has maintained a modest, slightly bemused outlook on life.

Esposito creates a list of traits the perfect man should have. A handsome doctor has those traits and adores her. But Esposito's character is charmed by an unconventional coffee-shop server played by Sutcliffe.

Penny, a married mom, tries to keep her sister on an even keel as Esposito ponders her choice.

The sisterly role is a change for her. She usually plays the lead, often the "confused girl trying to straighten out her life," she said.

Penny said such roles often follow a set formula and the actress knows what's expected of her.

"In a supporting role, you're there to provide the unexpected color," she said. "You get to develop it however you wish."

She adds a strong dash of humor to her role as the wise confidante.

It's Penny's third movie with Hallmark, following a turn as a suspected murderess on a McBride mystery and her role as a strong Depression-era farm mother in "Hidden Places."

Penny likes doing the Hallmark movies.

"Hallmark seems to be the only people right now interested in making films that are accessible to the whole family," she said.

Her dad was Hank Penny, comedian and a pioneer of Western swing music. During a break in the family act, she jump on stage, grabbed a mike and began telling her father's jokes.

"Dad came up with me and I sang a song with him that I made up," she said by phone from Los Angeles last week.

She was 10 and was already a veteran television actress when she filmed the ABC miniseries "Thorn Birds," starring Richard Chamberlain as the priest she admired.

Burt Reynolds was so taken by her that he sent her an admiring letter, which she still has.

When Reynolds and Clint Eastwood were filming "City Heat" together, Eastwood mentioned that he was looking to cast a young actress in a Western.

Reynolds suggested Penny. Eastwood asked for a meeting.

Penny expected "Dirty Harry," but Eastwood was different.

"We sat on a couch and talked, mostly about horses," she said. "I thought he was a really nice guy. I was surprised to find out how quiet he was, really very shy."

Penny had a prominent role as a prospector's daughter in 1985's "Pale Rider."

In 1988 and 1989, she portrayed Bernadette Soubirous in a pair of movies about the young visionary from Lourdes. They were filmed in France. The second film, "The Passion of Bernadette," was about her later years as a nun.

"It was very interesting to spend six weeks in a convent," she said. "You could tell the real nuns from the extras because the real nuns weren't smoking."

She played Julia Santos on the ABC soap opera "All My Children" in the early 1990s and returned in 2005. Julia had been in the Witness Protection Program during the intervening years.

Although death often seems to be a transitory state on soap operas, Penny believes her demise after the wedding shooting will stick. And she's not sorry.

"They made such a big point about my being shot through virtually every organ," she said. "I think it's fine that Julia died."

She came here in 1997 to film "Enchanted," (not to be confused with the 2007 movie by the same name), and returned in 1999 as our N.C. Azalea Festival queen, a role she thoroughly enjoyed.

She moved here in 2005 and lives in a historic house near downtown with her husband, Robert Powers, and a 3-year-old son.

She did a film this year in Charleston called "Little Red Wagon." She's also writing screenplays, recording audio books and directing local commercials.

She patronizes her favorite spots downtown and enjoys strolling on Riverwalk. She's a regular at Azalea Festival events.

"I've been very lucky to live a lot of places," she said, mentioning Los Angeles, New York and Paris.

"I think that most people who live in Wilmington know that it's a special town and appreciate the very unique environment," she said. "From my outsider's perspective, it's a wonderful place."

Contact Si Cantwell at 343-2364 or [email protected], or follow him on Twitter.com: @SiCantwell.

Sydney Penny, a former star of the daytime soap opera "All My Children" "will be voicing her political views by campaigning with Conservative/Republican Congressional candidate Michael Grimm," according to a release sent out by the Grimm campaign.

Grimm is running for the G.O.P nomination against Michael Allegretti for a Congressional seat held by Democrat Michael McMahon in a district that has a decent chance of flipping to the Republicans in the fall.

Continues the Grimm campaign: "Sydney Penny is crossing the traditionally liberal Hollywood elite by expressing her political views for true conservative values. Sydney appeared last night on Fox News with Hannity. "